Photo: © UNICEF/NYHQ2010-2659/LeMoyne
Almost two years after the terrible earthquake, Haiti is no longer under media attention. But that doesn't mean the problems are solved and the country doesn't need help anymore. Quite the opposite. Media agenda can help a lot, but can also be a cruel element in international aid. Once Haiti was no longer under the spotlights in papers and TV, it didn't exist anymore. That's why I feel the need of writing a bit on what has been going on in this Caribbean country since the tragic earthquake in the beginning of 2010.
It was January 12, 2010 about 16:50 (local time) when a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake hit Haiti. An estimated three million people were affected by the quake and Haitian authorities reported that an estimated 316,000 people had died, 300,000 had been injured and 1,000,000 made homeless. However some international agencies suggest the death toll was lower, but the homeless figures are much higher: about 1.5 million. In this case numbers are just a detail. The tragedy was overwhelming and help was needed to reconstruct the country: about 250,000 residencies had collapsed. Some Haitian cities became rubble.
President René Préval, the United Nations and several other agencies were quick issuing humanitarian aid appeals. Countries all over the world responded to the appeals by launching several fund-raising efforts and sending search and rescue teams. The situation demanded quick action and the whole world was following the situation in the small Caribbean country. Representatives from major organizations were sent to Haiti to work directly with the government on the reconstruction effort. The history of what happened in those days will be certainly written in the years to come.
Twenty three months passed by. What happened to Haiti? First of all, there were elections this year: on March 2011, Michel Martelly - former musician and businessman - won the second round of the presidential election against candidate Mirlande Manigat and is now the 44th President of the country. The challenges ahead would be tremendous even before the quake, but right now the main aim is to put the country back on track.
Meanwhile, some unfortunate events have occurred. In October 2010, a cholera epidemic was identified. More than 3,500 people in the region to the north of Port-au-Prince were treated for diarrhea, acute fever, vomiting and severe dehydration. The main fear was that this outbreak could reach camps housing survivors of the earthquake. Many Haitian people alleged that the strain may have come from the Nepalese peacekeepers, who had their base on the Artibonite river, and there were violent protests against the UN peacekeeping forces. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was involved and found out that the cholera strain ravaging the country matched a strain specific to South Asia, but said "they had not pinpointed its origin or how it arrived in Haiti". At this point, the outbreak already killed more than 6,500 people and sickened around 350,000. Of course cholera is not spreading without a reason: when water and sewage treatment is inadequate, as in Haiti even before the earthquake - Haiti's coverage levels in urban and rural areas are the lowest in the northern hemisphere for both water supply and sanitation (see report below) -, cholera can spread rapidly and make many victims. In June 2011, torrential rains swept away houses and flooded roads in capital Port-au-Prince. Some camps that housed earthquake evacuees also reported flooding and at least 23 people have been killed. There were also heavy rains last October causing important flooding in Haiti’s southern departments. This events didn't help containing the cholera outbreak.
Almost two years after the quake, displaced persons’ camps are still a reality: an estimated 643,000 people remain in camps that were designed as temporary accommodation. Right now there is the fear of becoming permanent communities. Agencies and NGOs are still in Haiti and they are doing their best to improve people's lives in such hard conditions. UNICEF, for example, is helping displaced children in Port-au-Prince to settle in new community sites. The task is not easy at all. Even if the new shelters are a huge step above the tents where families used to live for months, they are not a permanent solution. Housing displaced people is a huge challenge, as it is the reconstruction and the removal of the rubble (yes, one year after the quake only 5 percent of the rubble had been cleared!). Non-profit organizations from all over the world have volunteers in Haiti doing that hard work: for example, chilean Un Techo Para Mi Pais built more than 800 houses, mobilizing more than 2,800 volunteers. Step by step things are being done, but how can we say something was already done when there is so much more to do?
It was January 12, 2010 about 16:50 (local time) when a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake hit Haiti. An estimated three million people were affected by the quake and Haitian authorities reported that an estimated 316,000 people had died, 300,000 had been injured and 1,000,000 made homeless. However some international agencies suggest the death toll was lower, but the homeless figures are much higher: about 1.5 million. In this case numbers are just a detail. The tragedy was overwhelming and help was needed to reconstruct the country: about 250,000 residencies had collapsed. Some Haitian cities became rubble.
President René Préval, the United Nations and several other agencies were quick issuing humanitarian aid appeals. Countries all over the world responded to the appeals by launching several fund-raising efforts and sending search and rescue teams. The situation demanded quick action and the whole world was following the situation in the small Caribbean country. Representatives from major organizations were sent to Haiti to work directly with the government on the reconstruction effort. The history of what happened in those days will be certainly written in the years to come.
Twenty three months passed by. What happened to Haiti? First of all, there were elections this year: on March 2011, Michel Martelly - former musician and businessman - won the second round of the presidential election against candidate Mirlande Manigat and is now the 44th President of the country. The challenges ahead would be tremendous even before the quake, but right now the main aim is to put the country back on track.
Meanwhile, some unfortunate events have occurred. In October 2010, a cholera epidemic was identified. More than 3,500 people in the region to the north of Port-au-Prince were treated for diarrhea, acute fever, vomiting and severe dehydration. The main fear was that this outbreak could reach camps housing survivors of the earthquake. Many Haitian people alleged that the strain may have come from the Nepalese peacekeepers, who had their base on the Artibonite river, and there were violent protests against the UN peacekeeping forces. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was involved and found out that the cholera strain ravaging the country matched a strain specific to South Asia, but said "they had not pinpointed its origin or how it arrived in Haiti". At this point, the outbreak already killed more than 6,500 people and sickened around 350,000. Of course cholera is not spreading without a reason: when water and sewage treatment is inadequate, as in Haiti even before the earthquake - Haiti's coverage levels in urban and rural areas are the lowest in the northern hemisphere for both water supply and sanitation (see report below) -, cholera can spread rapidly and make many victims. In June 2011, torrential rains swept away houses and flooded roads in capital Port-au-Prince. Some camps that housed earthquake evacuees also reported flooding and at least 23 people have been killed. There were also heavy rains last October causing important flooding in Haiti’s southern departments. This events didn't help containing the cholera outbreak.
Almost two years after the quake, displaced persons’ camps are still a reality: an estimated 643,000 people remain in camps that were designed as temporary accommodation. Right now there is the fear of becoming permanent communities. Agencies and NGOs are still in Haiti and they are doing their best to improve people's lives in such hard conditions. UNICEF, for example, is helping displaced children in Port-au-Prince to settle in new community sites. The task is not easy at all. Even if the new shelters are a huge step above the tents where families used to live for months, they are not a permanent solution. Housing displaced people is a huge challenge, as it is the reconstruction and the removal of the rubble (yes, one year after the quake only 5 percent of the rubble had been cleared!). Non-profit organizations from all over the world have volunteers in Haiti doing that hard work: for example, chilean Un Techo Para Mi Pais built more than 800 houses, mobilizing more than 2,800 volunteers. Step by step things are being done, but how can we say something was already done when there is so much more to do?
read more: Haitians Train for a Future With a Military
read more: At a glance: Haiti
read more: Enquête Mortalité, Morbidité et Utilisation des Services EMMUS-IV: HAÏTI 2005-2006 (in French)
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